Forward Rykr Cole rushes the puck up ice this season.

The big goal for the Moose Jaw Generals continues to get closer and closer, but the team is keeping their focus on the present.

 

The local midget AAA squad opens up the second half of the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League season on Thursday night with the Notre Dame Hounds at Mosaic Place.

 

After missing out on the playoff round at the Mac’s Tournament in Calgary, the Generals got some time off before returning to practice on Monday.

 

“Practices have been pretty upbeat here the last few days, so it looks good,” said Ray Wareham, Generals head coach.  “They had a few days off to go home and reenergize, and I think they’re finally starting to understand the situation that we’re in.”

 

Wareham noticed a different focus about the team as they returned to the ice.  They’re more aware of the situation that they’re in with the 2014 Telus Cup coming to town and the need to seize the opportunity.

 

“I do want them to be aware of the situation they find themselves in, lots of guys would give their left leg to be here because it’s not every often that you get to play in the national championship,” said Wareham.

 

Not wanting to be overwhelmed and trying to win the national championship every night will be key for the Generals throughout the second half.  Small goals will be the focus for the team.

 

“We’ve got to focus on right now,” said second-year forward Rykr Cole, a third round pick of the Regina Pats.  “Our goals right now are putting ourselves in good spot in the playoffs and just having a good strong second half.”

 

There were a lot of ups and downs in the first half for the Generals, so if there’s one thing that they’re focused on in the second half, it would be finding a way to have a more consistent effort game-to-game.

 

“We just need consistency throughout our game and just doing the little things we need to do every night,” said Cole.

 

“We’ve talked about it over the past three days,” added Wareham.  “We’ve had our ups and downs, but we want to be consistent and play hard for sixty minutes and be hard to play against.”

 

The Generals will be missing some key veterans when they kick off the second half.  Forward Regan Nagy had an MRI on his back and will be out for the foreseeable future and Wareham described a return this season as “unlikely”.  Captain Trey Tendler was injured at the Mac’s and is close to returning, Wareham said if it was a do-or-die game he could play, but will probably rest another week.

 

There have been players that have stepped up in the absence of those veterans and Wareham added that’s nice to see.

 

“I thought Jared Legien for example had a fairly good Mac’s Tournament, he got thrown into a bigger role once Trey went down,” said Wareham.  “He’s really worked on his game and credit to him for raising his compete level and he’s going to get an opportunity here over the next little bit.”

 

The Generals will be need all lines going down the stretch run as they look to climb higher than their current fourth place seeding.  They’ll try to start that climb on Thursday night against the Notre Dame Hounds at Mosaic Place.  Puck drops at 7:00pm.

 

Generals Add To Coaching Staff

 

It’s all hands on deck for the Generals in the drive towards the 2014 Telus Cup.

 

Trying to gain every edge that they can in the hope of winning the national championship in their home rink, the team has added to their coaching staff for the second half, bringing in former Moose Jaw Warriors assistant coach Trevor Weisgerber.

 

“All of us have busy lives, Jeremy (Ebbett) has three kids and is on the go quite a bit and Darwin (Hazell) is the only one that has kids that are grown up and gone off, and we’ve got two girls that are busy with their own hockey,” explained Wareham.  “I felt like I need somebody in here with some experience.”

 

Weisgerber played seven years of pro hockey in the Central Hockey League before transitioning into coaching.  He spent the 2009-10 season with SJHL’s Kindersley Klippers before joining the Warriors staff for two seasons.  He was most recently an assistant coach with Team Saskatchewan at the Western Canada Under-16 Challenge Cup.

 

“I’m a more defensive kind of guy and I asked Trevor to come board to help out with the power play and work with our forwards a little bit,” said Wareham.  “We’re very happy to have him on board.”